hemphill



2 Sheets-Sheet 1.

(No Model.) 1 I J. HEMPHILL &'W. GARRETT. ROLLING MILL PLANT. N0.-352,750. Patented Nov; 16,1886.

, ATTORNEY.

i 'Nrre TATES T r ca:

J AMES HEMPHILL AND WILLIAM GARRETT, OF PITTSBURG, PA.

ROLLING-MILL PLANT.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 352,750, dated November 16, 1886.

Application filed October 26, 1885.

. View in outline of our improved plant for heating and rolling blooms or billets to reduce them to wire-rods at a single heat. Fig. 2 is a view in elevation of the billet-train. Fig. 3 is a similar view of the intermediate train.

Figs. 4. and dare views in elevation of the rod:

trains.

Our invention relates to certain improvements in the construction and arrangement of the parts of a rolling-mill plant for the reduction of steel or iron billets to wire-rods.

In wire-rod mills as heretofore constructed and arranged, the billet, intermediate, and rod trains have been located in the direct line of feed of the bar as it passes from one train to the other; or, in other words,the intermediate train was arranged a considerable distance in front of the billet-train, and the rod-train about the same distance in front of the intermediate train; but it frequently occurs that the floor-room necessary for such an arrangement of the-various trains is not always available, and the object of our invention is to so arrange the several trains and to so construct the grooves of the rolls composingsuch atrain that the several trains, while effecting good results as regards the reduction of the bloom or billet, will occupy very much less space or floor-room than the mills nowin use; and to this end our invention consists, in general terms,inthe arrangement and combination of parts, substantially in the manner hereinafter described and claimed. 1

The steel or iron blooms produced by any of the methods known in the art are charged -into the heating-furnaces A, one or more of which can be used, in accordance with the capacity of the mill. As soon as the blooms are heated to a proper rolling-heat they are taken to the billet-train B, where, by repeated back and forth passes through the grooves in the Serial No.180,398. (No model.)

rolls 1,2, and?) of said train, the bloom is re duced to bar or billet form.

The part a of the billet-train consists of three lines of rolls, 1,2, and 3,having grooves therein constructed and proportioned in accordance with rules well known in the art, so as to reduce the bloom during the back and forth passes between such rolls to such a size that when emerging from the last pass of these rolls it can be conducted by the curved guide 4 to one of the grooves in the rolls 5 and 6, forming the part b of the billet-train B. The billet-train B is driven through suitable connections from the engine, indicated at E. From the part b of the billet-trainthe rod is conducted by a curved guide,7, to the rolls composing the part0 of the intermediate train, 0, and from the part c the rod is guided to the part d of the intermediate train by the curved trough or guide 8.

The part c of the intermediate train is composed of two rolls, 9 and 10, having suitable grooves formed therein and connected by coupling-boxes to two upper lines of rolls of the part d of the same train, said part (1 consisting of three lines of rolls, l1,l2, and 13, for

the back and forth passes of the rod there-- through. This intermediate-train,0, located, as shown, with its rolls 'in line with the axes of the rolls of the billet-train B, is driven, through the belts 14 and the counter-shaft 15, by the'engine E, the pulleys over which said belts pass being made, in accordance with rules known in the art, of such relative sizes that the rolls of the intermediate train will be driven at a higher speed than the rolls of the billettrain. The rolls 11, 12, and 13 are provided with grooves of such size and number that two or more back and forth passes 'may be had cordance with the amount of reduction effected in the previous trains and the size of the rod when completed. The rolls 17 to 24 are provided with grooves which gradually decrease in each succeeding pair of rolls, so that the rod as received from the intermediate train is gradually and proportionately reduced as it progresses from one pair of rolls to the other.

If desired, curved guides may be employed to feed the rod from one pair of rolls to the next in the rod-trains; ,or, as we prefer, curved guides 25 may be used to feed the rod on one side of the trains, catchers and feeders being employed to feed the rod on the opposite side thereof. The grooves in the rolls of the rodtrain are so formed as to alternately impart to the rod an oval and a square form in cross section-e. g., the grooves in the rolls forming the pair 17 are formed so as to produce an oval rod, the grooves in the next pair,18,being constructed to produce a square rod.

W'here catchers andfeeders are employed to feed the rod on one side,and curved guides on the opposite side, the grooves in the rolls should be so formed that the catchers and feeders will feed the rod when in an oval form and the curved guides will feed it when in a square form, as it is desirable that the rod should be given a quarter-turn as it passes from a pair of rollers having oval grooves to a pairhaving angular grooves, and it being very difficult to effect this quarter-rotation in a curved guide. The grooves in the last pair of rolls, 24, are formed to produce, by preference, a rod round in cross-section, although other forms of rods may be produced, if desired.

The rod-trains should be located at such a distance from the billet and intermediate trains as to permit of the back and forth passes of the billet through the trains'B and C and the looping out of the rod as it is operated on by the rolls in the intermediate and rod trains.

The rod-trains D and D are driven,through the belts 26 and 27, bythe engines indicated F and H. As the wire-rod emerges from the 'last pair of rolls, 24, it passes along the floor of the mill to one or the other of the reels indicated at R. Each successive train 'of the above plant is driven at a proportionately higher speed than the preceding train, such increase being proportional to the amount of reduction effected by the rolls ofeach train.

We claim herein as our invention 1. A rolling-mill plant for rolling Wire-rods directly from blooms, having in combination a billet-train, B, rod-trains D D, and an in 5 termediate train, 0, the rolls of the intermediate train being arranged in the axial plane of the billet-train and having its last pair of rolls in or approximately in line with the first pairiof rolls of the rod-trains, substantially as set forth.

2 A rollingmill plant for rolling wire-rods directly from blooms, having in combination a billet-train, B, rod-trains D' D, and an intermediate train, 0, the rolls of the billet and intcrmediate trains having their axes in the same vertical plane and being arranged at such a distance from the rod-trains as to permit of back and forth passes through the rolls of the trains B and G,'and the receiving or first pair of rolls of the rod-trains being located in or approximately in line with the last or delivery pair of rolls of the intermediate train, substantially as set forth.

3. In a rolling-mill plant for rolling rods 5 directly from blooms, the intermediate train, 0, arranged in line with the train B, and having its delivery-rolls in or approximately in line with the receiving-rolls of the rod-train,

in combination with the billet and rod trains B, D, and D, a curved trough or guide for conducting the rod from the last pass of the billettrain to the first pass of the intermediate train, and a trough or guide, 16, for conducting the rod from the last pass of the intermediate train to the first pass of the rodtrains, substantially as set forth.

In testimony whereof we have hereunto set 

